December 20, 2025 • 40 mins
In Hour 4 of The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon, Jason talks about the impact of kickers after the first game of the college football playoff & go over the impactful games of Week 16 in the NFL!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weeknight
ten pm to two am Eastern seven to eleven pm
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for
The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon at Foxsports Radio
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Speaker 2 (00:22):
Let's give this part. If you're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Greetings, welcome inside final hour tonight the Jason Smith Show
with my bas friend Mike Harmon. Yeah, live from the
Fox Sports Radio studios. Or we watched Alabama overcome a
seventeen point deficit to beat Oklahoma and the college football
playoff opener. Look, it was messy. There were tons of
(00:48):
drop passes, there were missed field goals, there were head
scratching officiating calls, there were head scratching coaching decisions. But
it doesn't matter. It was fun. It was it was great, right,
like sometimes every game doesn't need to be it's the
greatest game ever played. Uh, it was incredibly entertaining, and
(01:08):
you know, are you shocked to see a lot of things? Yeah,
And that's a good thing. Something that I like being
shocked to see things that I wouldn't expect. I mean
to drop passes, boy, I didn't expect that.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
But at one point dude was on his knees and
it hit him square in the chest, and yeah, they
immediately got a shot of ty Simpson's Like, really.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
What else do I need to do? Like Alabama had
one drive where where that drop passed. That would have
been like if and if ty Simpson actually throws it
a little bit further and doesn't and doesn't like you know,
just wing it in short arm it, that's a touchdown.
But he had to get down to his knees to
catch it. He dropped it. They dropped three passes first
down passes on that drive, and they had a first
(01:49):
down that they should have got easy on a late
hit where ty Simpson got hit helmet to helmet after
he threw the ball away and the officials looking right
at he goes nope, Nope, everything is fine. It's like,
oh my, It's like the football gods and the karma
gods are saying, you're not going to take a two
touchdown lead in this game. Ah, not happening is not
on my watch. But able to overcome the deficit and win.
(02:12):
And look, we talked about Kaylin Deboor a few minutes ago,
and the big shocker here you get to the end
of this game, right, there's a lot of drama to
get to. You know, the bad punt effort by Oklahoma.
Brent Vettibles is gonna be going over that play for
a long time because that's the play that really breathed
life into Alabama in the first half, and they never
gave back the momentum. But Tate Sandel, who was the
(02:34):
Groza Award winner for the best kicker in the country,
he ties an FBS single season record for most made
field goals of fifty more yards by kicking that fifty
one yarder in the first half, and then he misses
two in the final four minutes. He misses one from
thirty six yards out that would have made it a
(02:56):
one score game and all Oklahoma had to do was
stop Alabama, get the football back and they'd have plenty
of time to drive. But he missed from thirty six yards.
Then they rush him out there with a minute eighteen
left to go because they want to have enough time
to get the field goal, get the on side kick
and drive and he's short from fifty one yards away
(03:18):
with one eighteen left. All Alabama had to do is
kneel on the football. And that's the most shocking thing
was was you know, you see here is that of
all these games, all the twists and turns, of the
craziest thing we saw, this guy has one of the
most powerful legs we've seen in recent history in college football. Again,
the guys that grows award winner and he misses a
gimme and he misses one from fifty one that he
(03:40):
needs to keep his team in the game. And he
didn't just miss it, he missed it short. He didn't
even he didn't even reach the crossbar on his fifty
one yard and that that's just stunning to me. And
I get the college kickers aren't NFL kickers. And you know,
if you have one college, one kicker out of college
who comes in every year and wins a job, that's
a lot in the NFL, Right, because we're at the
(04:01):
highest level of kickers in the NFL we have ever
had before in the history of the game. Right, kicking
just seems to get better and better. You have one
new rookie, one rookie come in and win a job.
That's a lot too. Boy, it feels like you have
so many kickers coming in. But this is a guy
you're even in college. Okay, he's about as automatic as
good as it gets, and missing a gimme and not
even reaching for fifty one yards away. I walk away
(04:23):
from this and go, that's the most shocking thing out
of anything else I saw tonight. And we saw a
sideline interference penalty and a team refused to throw a
hail mary on the final play of the first half
or midfield. We saw all of these things, Mike, and
these two misses that we saw from him, or the
two most shocking things in this game.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Easy, yeah, I mean we watched twists and turns, calls
on the sideline. Now, the errant passes, missed opportunities. But
to your point, a guy who's been automatic with the
big leg and obviously becomes a full hero because of
the short pants that he wears and he's kicking with
his left foot. But now, I know there were some
brisk wins. We didn't get a full in game, but
(05:05):
you could see the flags certainly on the uprights moving
quite a bit. Some estimates early in the day was
that you'd have twenty mile an hour wins, so you
take some of that into account, but certainly that fifty
one yard attempt had no chance whatsoever.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
And I think that's the overarching.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Thing, right, seventeen point lead early Alabama races back, but
Oklahoma certainly still had their opportunities late. We talk about
decision making, when to go for the field goal, when
to push for the touchdown, and all of those things
that the Oklahoma staff had to consider. Materier a lot
of running around, but not a lot of success. We
(05:47):
talked about the run games being non existence on both sides,
a couple of big plays and then a bunch of
nothing and falling down. But the kicking game coming back
on Oak which had been so money all year long,
no matter what, you can put him out there, and
it was like super tow right, the old I'm gonna
slam him on the head as hard as I can.
(06:09):
The ball's gonna play fly through now, not tonight, And
like that, thirty six yard is gonna be debated for
quite a while too, right, because that changes the complexion
of those final minutes of how it has to play out,
you know.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
And because there's more at stake than just who moves
on right now, Alabama's moving on for Indiana on New
Year's Day, which is gonna be a hell of a
game to watch. Right. This is just like the NCAA
tournament in college basketball. Yeah, you get early round games that, yeah,
you're watching just because you normally always watch them. But
we don't have great matchups.
Speaker 5 (06:41):
Right.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
We got James Madison in Oregon tomorrow. We got too
late in Old Miss. But you get out of these
games all of a sudden. Hey, the quarterfinals, the seventh finals,
you get great matchups, just like the NCAA tournament. Right,
It just does like the tournament, but there's more at
stake because you look at the plays of the quarterbacks, right,
and John Mattier and Ty Simpson at different times this
year or viewed as potential franchise quarterbacks in the NFL. Right,
(07:03):
Simpson had a great start and then Alabama's offense disappeared.
Mattier started out well, then he got hurt and he
hasn't really made it back off the injury. So to
have that the year he's having here, you know, both
these guys have fallen off. NFL evaluators are looking at
to say who's going to rise to the top of
(07:25):
the NFL draft this year, because even though it's not
a great year for quarterbacks, somebody's gonna rise up. Someone's
gonna say I'm the number one pick in the draft?
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Now?
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Is it Forrandom Mendoza? He's in pole position right now
with Indiana undefeated Heisman Trophy. But I you know, I'm
not that sold. I think Mendoza is a guy that
we've sort of, you know, kept him at the top
just because there hasn't been anybody else, right, But he's
been great this year in college. But does he really
project to be a to be a next great star
quarterback in the NFL? I don't know, And I guarantee
(07:54):
you NFL evaluators don't know. They're looking at this playoff
and they're saying, who was gonna distance themselves by having
an incredible playoff and rising from Hey, they're one of
the guys we're talking about too. He's the guy coming
off the board as the first quarterback, or he's someone
that's trading with the Giants at number one to go
get that pick. And you saw tonight you watch John Mattier,
(08:17):
who was pretty good the first quarter and a half
and then all of a sudden looked like he was
running around panicked. Right like I'm seeing a lot of
a lot of evaluators talk about the footwork of both
quarterbacks and how that was really bad tonight and Simpson,
you know the same way. Right started out poorly but
then played better as the game went on. Still wasn't
as great, wasn't as decisive, made some bad throws. So
(08:41):
you know, neither of these guys has has differentiated themselves.
Now you have a couple more games in theory for
for for for Simpson to move on, maybe it's one
more game, but Mendoza would have two more games. But
I got to tell you the guy that I'm looking
to say, he's going to differentiate himself and he's going
to rise at the top of all these guys. Were
going to see him play tomorrow and again you'll see
(09:02):
him if you watch the game, because I don't know
why you would watch Oregon and James Madison, but Dante
Moore is gonna be that guy when the season started,
and More and Mendoza and nuss Meyer and these are
the guys that we're all sort of mentioned in the
beginning of the season. More is someone who when you
look at the skills and the toolbox that you want
a quarterback to have a modern day quarterback in the NFL.
(09:24):
He's got it all, right, He's absolutely got it all.
But you know, loses the big showdown game against Indiana.
Still has a really good year. But I think Oregon
overall has kind of been unappreciated, like they might be
the second best team in the country, you know, I mean,
really their only loss is that is to Indiana, and
you know, I don't I don't know if you play
that game again how that game would go. But More
(09:47):
certainly has all of the of the skills you need.
And now he's got the storyline to get there. Because
Oregon should easily have a rematch at least with Indiana
in the semis. It should be a big game for
him tomorrow against James Madison should be a big game
in the quarterfinal. And More's the guy that I see
at the end of this playoff when you see all
(10:07):
kinds of stuff and read online about who helped himself
the most. Dante Moore, who went from hey, this guy's
you know, a high first round pick. Two. This is
the guy the teams are now gonna want that's gonna
come off the board as the first guy. He just
has all. He just has a skill set, and he's
got the narrative and the storyline and the games to
be able to show everybody when you're looking for stuff
like footwork and execution, that I can get that done
(10:30):
over the next three games. You're gonna have three games
to be able to prove how good he is three
games at least. So, yeah, when you say who's that quarterback,
Who's who's at the stakes the highest four here, it's
the quarterbacks playing in the college football playoff, and More's
the guy that's gonna wind up being the big winner.
Speaker 4 (10:45):
Yeah, those are the two guys that stand out most.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
More and Simpson has been a guy folks have been
waiting on to get his turn there at Alabama for
a while. Only thirteen what this was his fourteenth start,
So you know those where we start talking about the
metrics of how many starts do you need before you
feel convinced that you got the guy right? And that's
where Dante More is to a degree as well as
(11:09):
time at UCLA sat behind Dylan Gabriel last year and
now you have this run up here and look every evaluation,
maybe a little bit of work on his footwork, Okay, fine,
everything else is there, right, checks the box and being
able to put the ball Downfield checks the box with
his decision making, just you know, just keep going down
the line. So all the mocks that I've seen, those
(11:32):
are the three guys that show up in the first round,
and Simpsons usually towards the back end of it as
the project guy. Right that maybe we re enter the
phase of NFL Worlds, especially for those teams that are
doing well right now, where you just say, okay, we
can bring him in and he doesn't have to play
right away now with Dante More it's the other end
(11:53):
of it where all the projections have him in that
top five, if not supplanting Mendoza altogether. Assuming that the
playoff run goes for Oregon as you expect, and yeah,
you're right, they've been able to operate in relative anonymity,
just go and win.
Speaker 4 (12:10):
You had the game.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
Against Indiana that got a little bit of run in
its moment, but over the course of an NCAA season
gets lost to the annals of history, right, although it
seems like years ago the way these seasons play out,
But for more big test you know is not tomorrow.
Speaker 4 (12:31):
Yeah, you take care of business, check the box, run
the ball, go home.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
But in the future rounds, whether it's a rematch or
anything that flows through that, all eyes are on him
to try to ascend to that spot. So great upside
here and certainly millions and millions of dollars. A lot
of questions of whether he would go back to school
for another year if it didn't show properly. But as
(12:56):
we talked about a little bit earlier and we revisit here,
it's like, if the money's there as a first round pick,
yeah you go. I mean nil deals are all fine
and good. Maybe you just love the college lifestyle Smith,
maybe you just want to stick around for that extra
year because I'm the king of this campus. Would allegedly
(13:17):
make at Michigan, what what was the eleven million for
eleven for him? Arch Manning says he's going to take less,
says he goes back to Texas so they can put a.
Speaker 4 (13:26):
Winner out there. Either way.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
He's probably in that you know, double digit million campaign
as well, and we know the money that flows at Oregon.
But for Dante Moore, the opportunity to go as a
top five pick, whether it's the Jets or Vegas, et cetera. Yeah,
you go and take your money and move on to
the next challenge.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
Yeah. I mean, look, the doors open for everybody, right
like that, Like the NFL is not saying we want
this guy to show us it's open. It's open for More,
it's open for Mendoza. I mean it's open for everyone, right,
I mean, this is every quarterback and that's in the
playoff can say, yeah, this is why you take me
this high.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
Well, but Mendoza's the one guy, Jason that I think
everybody just agrees. He comes out, he's going top. Everybody
else still got something to prove.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
Yeah, I means right now, by default, he's he's going
at the top. And I think that's why he's is
that if More comes out and he and he shows you, hey, wait,
I can make all these throws, and you're seeing everything
I can do, and you can do it a little
bit better than Mendoza, well then all of a sudden
you jump ahead of him. I mean, right now, Mendoza
is in pole position, easy, and the first quarterback off
(14:32):
the board, it's going to be him, either to the
Raiders or to the Jets or somebody who's picking in
the top five. Someone will trade up in the top
five to get a quarterback because he looked you got
to take somebody. And if he's the guy, even if
he's the guy by default, well you know, life is
miserable without of the quarterback, so you get one. So
the door is open for all of them. But you know,
the other part of it. You made an interesting point
(14:53):
there is that in other years we might not even
be talking about Mendoza or Dante More at the top
of the first right, these guys, like if this is
twenty twenty seven, maybe Mendoza and more guys later in
the first round or into the first round. Because twenty
twenty seven next year, which is likely going to be
headlined by arch Manning, it's it's in theory supposed to
(15:14):
be a better year for the quarterback draft. So if
you're Dante More and you're thinking, I can stay, I
can go to school, I go back to school, you
have a big playoff and you getting evaluated as a
top five pick, like you gotta go man be cause
you don't know what's gonna happen in the next year.
You might not be the shiny new toy. Other guys
may play really well and they may see, well, you
had a good year last year, he had a good
year this year. All right, Well, yeah, we like Dante more,
(15:36):
but you know, last week we liked him as the
number four overall pick or litreber two overall pick. Now
we like him as maybe in the twenties. Now maybe
go somewhere, and he sits for a year, Like, you
don't want to throw all that out to chance. When
the NFL calls for you go, Like I've always been
a big subscriber to that philosophy in the NFL says
we want you. That's when you go, because if you
don't go, then you could wind up screwing yourself. So
(15:58):
as long as he gets that evaluate, he's gotta go.
He's gotta be that guy today. Even if I'm the
second quarterback off the board, I'm coming off the board
at number three. Right, it's been Doze of the Raiders
and me to the Jets, or vice versa. Whatever it's
gonna be. You kind of have no choice. You have
to go at that point.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
Well, and it goes back to the general philosophy of
even if the guy doesn't grade out as the prototypicals
compared to past years. Right, top quarterbacks. Everybody needs one
and we're watching it right now. What are we into
the mid fifties of starting quarterbacks based on injury and effectiveness, incompetence,
(16:35):
bad coaching, bad offensive line play.
Speaker 4 (16:38):
Slice up that pie. However you want.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
You need multiple quarterbacks that you're at the ready, I mean,
otherwise you're going and finding the next Philip Rivers.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
Yeah, I got Philip in exit out by the Fresca
exit swelling dumb. Jason Smith Mike Harmon live from the
Fox Sports or Radio studios coming up next. We finished
this out with an absolute flourish. We preview the five
biggest games in the NFL this weekend. Keep it right here,
Jason to Mike, Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern seven
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Speaker 5 (17:19):
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Speaker 4 (17:32):
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Speaker 1 (17:48):
Coming away Fox Sports Radio The Jason Smith Show with
my best friend Mike Harmon. Congrats to Alabama, got a
big slay to college football tomorrow. One playoff game you'll
probably watch, and that's Miami in Texas, A and m
and a couple more you'll just you know, check in
on the score on. But big slay of games in
(18:10):
the NFL this weekend. We're gonna preview five of the
biggest ones over the next few minutes here on the show.
And let's kick things off with a game where the
good times for this team are going to hit a
speed bump. The more desperate team, even though they might
not make the playoffs, kind of like run around with
the checking with their head cut off, like they don't
(18:31):
know that maybe they might be dead. Give me the
Lions to take out their frustrations for the past few
weeks against the Steelers. Look, Aaron Rodgers had a couple
of nice games in the last three weeks, but Detroit
is desperate. They are at home. They will play like
it on offense. They should win this game by twenty
(18:52):
Pittsburgh shouldn't even be in this game at halftime. It
should be somebody else, a quarterback in the second half.
Detroit's not gonna have any trouble scoring this game. They're frustrated,
they're pissed after that loss to the Rams, and even
though their window may be closed, and that's the big
thing is that even if Detroit wins this game, making
the playoffs, just making the playoffs is gonna be tough
(19:13):
because they're gonna be down no matter what happens this week.
They'ren't have to need help the last few weeks. This
is a Lions team that's on like a two and
a half year decline, you know, from where they were
when they burst on the scene and were you know,
thirty minutes from the Super Bowl, and then last year
they looked like they were even better and they couldn't
beat the Commanders at home, and now this year they're
struggling to get in the window for the Lions that
(19:36):
we thought is gonna be open for a long time
young team. They got a lot of guys, a lot
of young players. They're paying well, they're paying a lot
of young players, and the team doesn't look like it's
good enough. So as much as I'm in on them
for tomorrow, and I'm gonna have to answer all this
on my family text as well, why did you say
that about our team? I'm up on the on the
Lions for this weekend and especially Pittsburgh's. Look, I'm never
(19:58):
gonna believe in Pittsburgh up on the lines this weekend.
But overall, I wonder if the window for this team
here isn't closed, and it's gonna have to be a
different mix of other things next year, whether it's hey,
maybe they do miss Aaron Glenn. Maybe it's something more
defensively they need. Maybe it's a little bit more something.
(20:18):
I mean, it's a mystery right now because they shouldn't
be struggling this much, but they are so short term. Yes,
I'm in on them to blow the doors off of
the Steelers, but man, their super Bowl window might be closed.
Speaker 3 (20:30):
Yeah, I mean, we look at roster construction obviously, attrition. Defensively,
the back seven's been banged up all year long, you know,
you get Hutchinson back, but you can't maximize him because
even if he's terrorizing the quarterback, they're not making the
plays on the back end, giving up chunky yardage in
big plays left and right. So that's that's certainly something
that needs to be addressed offensively. We've watched the Jamiir
(20:54):
Gibbs game. We talked about it for fantasy purposes. Certainly
we did on the Iwacha Flex Buyer Roddy and I Dan,
and you know I laid this out Jason. For the guys,
it's been the roller coaster ride. Three touchdowns zero, three
touchdowns zero. So Jamiir Gibbs, trying to have a little
(21:14):
more consistency from him as a runner has been difficult.
And so when we look at it, you know, for
the Lions, youared Goff becomes the face of it all.
But we've watched them get desperate at times and the
fourth down magic hasn't been there. Maybe that's run its
course and Dan Campbell needs to take a long walk
(21:36):
on the beach to reevaluate that.
Speaker 4 (21:38):
Yeah, I think they get the win here against Pittsburgh.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
Wouldn't be surprised to see Rogers and Company put up
some numbers, but you know, overall, it's certainly levels of
concern in terms of the continuity and consistency that just
isn't there, and losing coordinators will do that for you. Right,
It's not always going to be the same messaging. It's
not always going to be this. Even if a lot
(22:00):
of the principles are there, something's been lost.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
And now making things interesting because you know, we want it.
And it's only destiny for the AFC North to come
down to the final week of the season and the
Steelers and the Ravens when both teams are five hundred.
Give me the Ravens over the Patriots this weekend. Baltimore
is at home, They're in primetime, and Lamar Jackson looks
(22:24):
the closest he's been to being back in quite a
while right now, not like Baltimore's all of a sudden
suddenly solved all their problems. But this is one hundred
percent a Lamar game, right, This is a Lamar Jackson game.
And I'm going to take the downward slope for the
Patriots to continue a little bit because they got exposed
(22:45):
as bad front runners against Buffalo like that. That's the
thing about New England this year, it's every game is
the same. Look, this is the mark of a great team.
You get out to you know, you game plan what
you want and the game goes according to script. And
guess what, hey, it's easy. Rights. Every game is the same.
They get out to a lead, they hold on to it,
maybe it gets close, but they find a way to
(23:05):
make a player two. They don't really have to play
from behind, they don't really have to play like they're
in trouble at any point. And this past week it
was a perfect Patriots start. Right they were out and
I said to myself, man, the Bills are gonna get
waxed by the Patriots again. Except what happened a game
the Patriots had the front running, they were golden. They
(23:27):
were front of this game by almost three touchdowns, and
still the Bills were able to come back and win
this game. And the big thing for me with New
England is not suddenly they're bad or not, but being
exposed as a great front running team. Now you can see, hey,
we can come back against them. I don't know that
(23:48):
New England when it comes down to it, when they
play the best teams across the NFL, I don't know,
if they can score as big as they need to
with the heavyweights, not like they're not that they have
to win a shootout all the time. Like you can't
win a thirty eight thirty five game. Okay, there's lots
of teams they can't win a thirty eight thirty five games.
But when points start getting put up and you have
to match along the way and keep up with the
(24:10):
other team, like, that's the thing that strikes me about
in New England? Can they do that? Nat? I don't know,
because that last week was a disaster. Like if they
if they went out last week and they just lost
to the Bills, you'd say, Okay, hey, the Bills are
really good. We've had a great run. We'd won a
bunch of games in a row. What are we gonna do, right, Yeah,
we're at home, but the Bills are good. We won
twelve games row. Whatever it was, we hadn't lost. We
(24:31):
lost of the Steelers, which I mean, come on, man,
you lost of the Steelers and the Raiders.
Speaker 4 (24:35):
But Steelers are a five hundred team.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
But the way, but the way they lost that game
was really concerning to me. And it's it's not that
it's an end of the season swoon. But it's a
window into Hey, maybe this is how the Patriots, this
is their kryptonite, This is how you attack them. And
obviously you want to stop them from dictating play early on.
You want you want to stop them from being able
(24:58):
to front run. But now, hey, if we start scoring points,
they might not be able to keep all of a
sudden suddenly keep up with us in the game. And
that's what's gonna get them again, because you're gonna be
playing the best teams in the league. Now you know
when you get to the end of the season, in
the playoffs, and the bottom of that drawer is gonna
come up empty at some point.
Speaker 3 (25:14):
Yeah, big spot for Baltimore as well. Three point favorites
forty eight and a half is your total. We keep
an eye on the weather as we get closer to
the game time and see how that's affecting things. But
Lamar is clearly not right in gutting it out as
best he can. The run game hasn't been explosive. Passing
game still waiting for a breakthrough right for some of
(25:38):
these players. Day Flowers is about as consistent as you've seen. Conversely,
you look at New England. They've been living and dying
by the big play, right, certainly the explosive runs for Henderson.
We've talked and made a lot of it all throughout
the year about their strength of schedule. There's no strength
(25:58):
to it. So when you actually do get tested in
a big spot where all of a sudden you got
the elbows flying, and you watch Josh Allen just say
all right, I'll put on my cape and let's go.
Speaker 4 (26:11):
And James Cook with.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
The explosive plays that he had that you're finding it
tough to match up because the passing game, to your
point about front running, I think is really where it
comes down to. And I take nothing away Drake may
has made great strides and Varibel's done a hell of
a job, but this is a step up in class
this week from what you've been seeing. Right, And the
(26:34):
last time we watched against the Bills, Okay, they got
punched and then they continue. It's kind of like watching
this Alabama Oklahoma game. All right, Oklahoma was great, and
then as soon as it neutralized and evened out, they
just got punched and bludgeoned for the rest of the bout.
I think Baltimore in a big spot at home do
(26:55):
the same.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
Yeah, I mean, look, they're more desperate, clearly, even though
the Patriots can now see the Bills in the rear
view mirror, you know, after the win last week. But
I mean you would think they would have been able
to throw the hammer down last week. They're playing home,
right like you're a big at home, like news, that's
a game you win ten out of ten times. If
you're that good, you don't blow that game coming back.
And it's not like you watch Josh Allen suddenly go,
(27:17):
oh my god, Josh Allen, Josh Allen hey through three touchdowns,
but you know he only threw for one hundred and
ninety yards, not like he went for three point fifteen
and he ran for one hundred and twenty. Right, Like,
this was just a methodical comeback and a losing of
the lead in Buffalo in the second half, just flipping
a switch. And that's really concerning for the Patriots to me,
that they that this is a kind of game they
(27:38):
let slip when everything is on the table to winning
the AFC East, being in the in control for the
for the number one seed all the way through, and
to lose that way, not all watses are created equal
and that was that was an absolute stunner for me
last week, you know when they lost to the Bills, that.
Speaker 3 (27:54):
I sure remember objects in rear view mirror or closer
than they appear. And when you've got Josh Allen, did
he need to be overall ridiculous number game like Matthew
Stafford put up yesterday. No, he didn't. You just need
to play situational football, take advantage of what was given
to you. Uh, and your defense actually showed up when
(28:17):
it mattered. So uh, they take the the w they're
ten and four, I mean they're they're right behind and stalking.
So opportunity for Josh Allen in these final couple of
weeks to go win himself the MVP award, you know,
especially after you know the Rams lost yesterday. But for
Lamar Jackson and company, you know they're still playing for
(28:38):
great shakes. Otherwise they from if our eyes are to
be believed, he's a guy that should have been in
that are we shutting him down?
Speaker 4 (28:46):
What are we doing?
Speaker 3 (28:47):
We're contending, but we're not contending. No, he's still battling
ohs and the defense has played a little bit better.
Speaker 4 (28:53):
So big spot for them this week.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
Time now to find out what's trending in the wide
world of sports, from special to livery Steve Desager, He's
got everything that's trending right now, Steve o Hey.
Speaker 7 (29:05):
We'll start with the opener of the college football playoff.
It was nine seed Alabama winning at eight seed Oklahoma
thirty four twenty four, even though the Sooners led seventeen
to nothing early in the second quarter at the time,
Bama had no first downs. They had three straight three
and outs to open the game, and yet tied it
by halftime, took a ten point lead in the third,
wound up winning by ten. Alabama goes to the Rose
(29:28):
Bowl quarterfinal against number one Indiana. Oklahoma had won at
Alabama about a month ago in a close game, including
an eighty seven yard pick six. Bama had a touchdown
on a pick six tonight late in the first half.
The offense for the Tide twelve drives, twelve first downs,
but two TV passes for Ty Simpson.
Speaker 4 (29:46):
And they advanced.
Speaker 7 (29:47):
There were combined nine sacks in this game, so the
two teams combined had eighty three yards rushing on fifty
eight carries. Oklahoma is now zero to five all time
in playoff games. The three other first round games are
on Saturday, including ten seed Miami at Texas A and
m Duke quarterback Darien Mensa will return next season. He
had transferred there from Tulane this past offseason. Arizona State
(30:10):
wide receiver Jordan Tyson declared for the NFL Draft, so
he's expected to miss the Sun Bowl against Duke. Purdue
re hired defensive coordinator Kevin Kane, who coached at Minnesota
this past season in Tampa. Today, NC State won a
bowl game against Memphis thirty one to seven. Western Michigan
defeated Kennesaw State forty one to six. Arizona Cardinals wide
receiver Marvin Harrison Junior says he'll return to play Sunday
(30:33):
after a heel injury. Wide receiver Drake London of the
Falcons is due back on Sunday at Arizona after missing
four games with a knee injury. Wide receiver of the
Bengals T Higgins returned to full practice today after a concussion.
Raiders quarterback Gino Smith will start Sunday after shoulder and
back injuries. New Orleans running back Alvin Kamara is still
out this weekend with a sprained mcl. Texan's running back
(30:55):
Woody Marks returned to limited practice after his ankle injury.
Wide receiver where Rashid Rice of the Chiefs is out
this weekend with a concussion, and so is Kansas City's
Taekwon Thornton. Pittsburgh linebacker TJ. Watt is out with the
lung injury. Wide receiver Garrett Wilson of the Jets will
remain on IR so he's out for the season. Rams
wide receiver DeVante Adams is likely out next week as
(31:18):
well with his bad hamstring. Seattle linebacker Derek Hall was
suspended one game for on sportsmanlike conduct.
Speaker 4 (31:24):
He will appeal.
Speaker 7 (31:25):
Rams wide receiver Pukinakua was fined twenty five thousand dollars
for criticizing the refs. There are two NFL games on
Saturday on Fox TV, Philadelphia at Washington, then Green Bay
at Chicago. In the NBA's late game, Oklahoma City, which
was twenty five and two, lost giving up a late
eight ozhero run at Minnesota, Timberwolves take at one twelve
(31:46):
one oh seven despite thirty five points from Shay Gilgess.
Alexander San Antonio won its fifth straight game. They're up
to twenty and seven this year. Spurs wan at Atlanta one,
twenty six to ninety eight.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
Victor Rossis Steve, that is incorrect because I watched the
Spurs lose on Tuesday night in a very big game
where they most definitively were the losers.
Speaker 7 (32:06):
No, absolutely did not count.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
Well. I watched it, though I watched it, and there
was a trophy. I think it counted.
Speaker 4 (32:15):
And a banner was there a banner ben a Dignita College.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
There was a banner. It's just in storage permanently.
Speaker 7 (32:22):
New York had a quote six game winning streak going
into tonight's home game and lost at home against Philadelphia.
Either way, the streak is over one sixteen, one oh seven.
Philly got thirty points from Tyrese Maxi. I was gonna
mention with the Spurs off the bench these days. Victor
wembin Yaba twenty one minutes, twenty six points. Guard Trey
Young of the Hawks out for rest. He just returned
(32:43):
from injury.
Speaker 4 (32:44):
Last night.
Speaker 7 (32:44):
Chicago won at Cleveland despite thirty five from Darius Garland.
Boston beat Miami thirty three for Derek White and thirty
points for the Celtics, Jalen Brown. College basketball wins for
BYU and for Villanova in overtime, NHL wins for Colorado,
for Dallas, which won eight three at Anaheim, and Florida
in a shootout edge Carolina four to three. The Angels
(33:05):
agreed to a settlement with the family of their late pitcher,
Tyler Skaggs. After thirty one days in court and in boxing.
Tonight a heavyweight fight in Miami, Anthony Joshua doct out
Jake Paul in the sixth round.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
Back to You, Thank you, Steve O. The Jason Smith
Show with my best friend Mike Carmon coming up next,
we finish with a flourish. We preview the three other
biggest games in the NFL, including the Big showdown tomorrow.
Is Mike Harmon walking away from the Bears Packers happy
and running naked along Miracle Mile?
Speaker 7 (33:37):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (33:37):
Is he really pissed pulling his hair out? We'll tell
you next. Jason and Mike Fox Sports Radio, Fox Sports
Radio Jason Smith and Mike Carman. Final shot of the
year for Mike and I. Mike's got a couple of
days next week. Yeah, gonna finish with a flourish here
on a positivity Friday, take a look at three of
(34:00):
the biggest games this weekend and the National Football League
and first off by this time tomorrow, Mike Harmon is
a very happy man. I've been your Chicago Bear whisperer
all year long. I've told you everything was gonna be fine.
They'll win tomorrow against the Packers. They're gonna win the
(34:21):
NFC North, They're gonna be the number two overall seed
in the playoffs. This is how it's gonna end for
the Chicago Bears. It's all lining up right. Last week,
big win over Cleveland's defense. The offense not so much,
but big win over the defense. And clearly you have
seen now and there's been a lot of evidence the
last couple of years that the guy that makes the
(34:43):
offense go that you have to get the football too.
It's not really about Caleb Williams or the running game.
The guy that makes this offense go is DJ Moore.
When he gets the ball, the offense revs it up.
It's that simple. You go two weeks ago, one catch
minus four yards. You knew that wasn't gonna be the case.
Last week a huge week. Last week, they look great offensively,
(35:03):
He's still one of the best receivers in the NFL,
and they will have to get on the ball tomorrow
because you know, Romadoonday is out, and Luther Burden is out,
and Brian Bashnagel is out, Ken Marjoram is out. It's
gonna be the DJ Moore and Colson Lovelin show tomorrow.
But it doesn't matter. Chicago's better than Green Bay. They
should have won two weeks ago. The Packers are still
(35:26):
somewhat reeling over the loss of Micah Parsons, and just
like Bo Callahan didn't have to worry about Vonte Mack
when he was off the field, and draft day a
little less to worry about with though Micah Parsons, I'm
still bullish on the Packers overall because you can replace
a defensive player and still have a really good year
and still be really, really good. It's as much as
you want to say he's the quarterback of the defense,
(35:47):
he's not the quarterback. But tomorrow the Bears are too much.
They're the better team. The Bears win and Mike Harmon
is running naked along Miracle Mile. You got to listen
to the whole show tomorrow night to celebrate the.
Speaker 3 (35:57):
Bears win, trying to impress some girls in the stands.
Can't shoot that. What Dj Moore is interesting is, if
I'm not mistaken, this is the first year that'll end
with a winning record since high school.
Speaker 1 (36:12):
Yeah, you can't just say all he does is win,
That's not what He's not one of those guys.
Speaker 4 (36:16):
Yeah, So here we go.
Speaker 3 (36:17):
Go all the way back through Maryland three and nine,
six and seven, four and eight Panthers, seven and nine,
five and eleven, five and eleven, five and twelve, seven
and ten Bears, seven and ten, five and twelve, now
ten and four Bears. Yeah, he's got to be huge tomorrow.
And obviously Manungui and swift on the ground with no
run stuff for and no Michael Parsons to disrupt things.
(36:37):
So with everybody listed as an injury combatant for the Packers,
not sure that you get Watson and or Jacob's going
that the Bears should be able to hold serve.
Speaker 4 (36:49):
In front of the raucous home crowd.
Speaker 1 (36:53):
All the Chargers do is end seasons. They ended the
season last week of the Kansity Chiefs. They will end
Dallas said, well, Dallas season could end if the Eagles
win tomorrow. But you get my point. The Chargers have
shown this year, despite the injuries, they can win throwing
around or they can win tight physical mail biers. They've
done it too many times now to say, well, they
(37:14):
can't win like that all the time. No, I think
they're showing you the toughness and the grit they can
win that way. But against Dallas it's gonna be more
old school Chargers with big scores. Lad McConkie will be
back to having a big day. Look, the Cowboys defense
is back to where it was early in the season,
but that I mean they're not stopping anybody. You know,
They're allowing tons of points every week. Again, look, we've
(37:35):
told you who the Cowboys have been all along this season,
right like we've been your Cowboys whisperers. We told the
beginning you don't want to get in a shootout with
them because their offense is really good. Even Eye underestimated
how good the offense was, but boy, it was really good.
But right when they got to the point where they
were tantalizing us and maybe the NFC East was coming
into focus a little bit, it was possibly out there
(37:56):
for them. They make the big trade at the deadline
for Quinn Williams. No, they showed we're going to cowboy
and now they wind up tantalizing you and failing. And
that's really what the Cowboys have been. That's we told
they be all season long, and that's where they are.
Their offense was terrific. They won a lot of games,
but when it really came time to we showed me
how improved you are win games. Get there, they weren't
(38:18):
able to do it. And you're gonna see the Chargers
and that defense is going to put out a big effort.
I'm a big, big believer that the Chargers defense will
do more ill will to the Cowboys offense than vice versa.
So give me the Chargers to officially end the Dallas
Cowboy again. Cowboys. You could end up the Eagles win,
but you get what I'm saying that this is gonna
be the last week we talked about the Cowboys in
the playoffs, and the Chargers will be at the forefront
(38:40):
of it.
Speaker 3 (38:40):
Two and a half point favorite child the Cowboys at home.
Forty nine and a half year total. What was it?
A an enthusiasm, unknown demand and we're match That's what
you get from the love and love affair that Harbaugh
has with Justin Herbert. This is one where he gets
to put his arm back in full effect. They'll get
the run game going against this Dallas defense, no question
(39:01):
about it. But this is one where you can get
right in Dallas's offense. For all of the plaudits and
the numbers have been big, Ceedee Lamb and George Pickens
can both get got and they get got this week.
Speaker 1 (39:14):
Jacksonville and Denver, I mean, I raise your hand. You
thought this would be the game we're talking about. You know,
that's what a big week with such playoff implication, Yet
here we are slow your role on Jacksonville and Trevor Lawrence, Right,
Trevor Lawrence has been a little bit better the last
few weeks, but you cannot judge ultimate success by a
game against the Jets. Okay, it's the Jets. They're terrible,
(39:35):
and you can point to all the numbers that Trevor
Lawrence put up half of them. The last few weeks
have been from that game where I don't know that
the Jets even practiced because Trevor Lawrence, like, wow, it
hasn't been easy since I was Clemson playing Syracuse. You
know back when I was a freshman in college. So
the reality is here in the form of the Denver defense.
They show up big. I told you last week bon
Nicks would have his game of the year against the Packers.
(39:56):
That's the scariest part of this game because now bo
Nicks is back past being the game manager he's been
and that was a big, big game from last week.
The Broncos keep it going. Not only do they win,
they let at the scoreboard. They win big over the Jaguars.
Speaker 3 (40:09):
Danver three and a half point favorite, forty seven year total.
I'm taking the Jaguars balance and definition. Jacoby Myers, thanks
for showing up. Here's a giant contract. He and Brian
Thomas do some wonderful things with etn out of the
backfield and a little bit of tooting which gets Trevor
Lawrence into the winner circle again.
Speaker 1 (40:29):
You're just saying that because they beat the Jets bad
that don't fall for it, Mike Harmon, don't fall for it.
Speaker 4 (40:34):
That's a They're a stepping stone.
Speaker 1 (40:37):
The Jets are a stepping stone for everybody. And happy
Holiday is my friend for Mike Jason Coming up next
F and A on FSR. This is Fox Sports Radio,
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weeknight
ten pm to two am Eastern seven to eleven pm
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for
The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon at Foxsports Radio
dot com, or stream us live every night on the
iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Let's give this part. If you're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Greetings, welcome inside final hour tonight the Jason Smith Show
with my bas friend Mike Harmon. Yeah, live from the
Fox Sports Radio studios. Or we watched Alabama overcome a
seventeen point deficit to beat Oklahoma and the college football
playoff opener. Look, it was messy. There were tons of
(00:48):
drop passes, there were missed field goals, there were head
scratching officiating calls, there were head scratching coaching decisions. But
it doesn't matter. It was fun. It was it was great, right,
like sometimes every game doesn't need to be it's the
greatest game ever played. Uh, it was incredibly entertaining, and
(01:08):
you know, are you shocked to see a lot of things? Yeah,
And that's a good thing. Something that I like being
shocked to see things that I wouldn't expect. I mean
to drop passes, boy, I didn't expect that.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
But at one point dude was on his knees and
it hit him square in the chest, and yeah, they
immediately got a shot of ty Simpson's Like, really.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
What else do I need to do? Like Alabama had
one drive where where that drop passed. That would have
been like if and if ty Simpson actually throws it
a little bit further and doesn't and doesn't like you know,
just wing it in short arm it, that's a touchdown.
But he had to get down to his knees to
catch it. He dropped it. They dropped three passes first
down passes on that drive, and they had a first
(01:49):
down that they should have got easy on a late
hit where ty Simpson got hit helmet to helmet after
he threw the ball away and the officials looking right
at he goes nope, Nope, everything is fine. It's like,
oh my, It's like the football gods and the karma
gods are saying, you're not going to take a two
touchdown lead in this game. Ah, not happening is not
on my watch. But able to overcome the deficit and win.
(02:12):
And look, we talked about Kaylin Deboor a few minutes ago,
and the big shocker here you get to the end
of this game, right, there's a lot of drama to
get to. You know, the bad punt effort by Oklahoma.
Brent Vettibles is gonna be going over that play for
a long time because that's the play that really breathed
life into Alabama in the first half, and they never
gave back the momentum. But Tate Sandel, who was the
(02:34):
Groza Award winner for the best kicker in the country,
he ties an FBS single season record for most made
field goals of fifty more yards by kicking that fifty
one yarder in the first half, and then he misses
two in the final four minutes. He misses one from
thirty six yards out that would have made it a
(02:56):
one score game and all Oklahoma had to do was
stop Alabama, get the football back and they'd have plenty
of time to drive. But he missed from thirty six yards.
Then they rush him out there with a minute eighteen
left to go because they want to have enough time
to get the field goal, get the on side kick
and drive and he's short from fifty one yards away
(03:18):
with one eighteen left. All Alabama had to do is
kneel on the football. And that's the most shocking thing
was was you know, you see here is that of
all these games, all the twists and turns, of the
craziest thing we saw, this guy has one of the
most powerful legs we've seen in recent history in college football. Again,
the guys that grows award winner and he misses a
gimme and he misses one from fifty one that he
(03:40):
needs to keep his team in the game. And he
didn't just miss it, he missed it short. He didn't
even he didn't even reach the crossbar on his fifty
one yard and that that's just stunning to me. And
I get the college kickers aren't NFL kickers. And you know,
if you have one college, one kicker out of college
who comes in every year and wins a job, that's
a lot in the NFL, Right, because we're at the
(04:01):
highest level of kickers in the NFL we have ever
had before in the history of the game. Right, kicking
just seems to get better and better. You have one
new rookie, one rookie come in and win a job.
That's a lot too. Boy, it feels like you have
so many kickers coming in. But this is a guy
you're even in college. Okay, he's about as automatic as
good as it gets, and missing a gimme and not
even reaching for fifty one yards away. I walk away
(04:23):
from this and go, that's the most shocking thing out
of anything else I saw tonight. And we saw a
sideline interference penalty and a team refused to throw a
hail mary on the final play of the first half
or midfield. We saw all of these things, Mike, and
these two misses that we saw from him, or the
two most shocking things in this game.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Easy, yeah, I mean we watched twists and turns, calls
on the sideline. Now, the errant passes, missed opportunities. But
to your point, a guy who's been automatic with the
big leg and obviously becomes a full hero because of
the short pants that he wears and he's kicking with
his left foot. But now, I know there were some
brisk wins. We didn't get a full in game, but
(05:05):
you could see the flags certainly on the uprights moving
quite a bit. Some estimates early in the day was
that you'd have twenty mile an hour wins, so you
take some of that into account, but certainly that fifty
one yard attempt had no chance whatsoever.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
And I think that's the overarching.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Thing, right, seventeen point lead early Alabama races back, but
Oklahoma certainly still had their opportunities late. We talk about
decision making, when to go for the field goal, when
to push for the touchdown, and all of those things
that the Oklahoma staff had to consider. Materier a lot
of running around, but not a lot of success. We
(05:47):
talked about the run games being non existence on both sides,
a couple of big plays and then a bunch of
nothing and falling down. But the kicking game coming back
on Oak which had been so money all year long,
no matter what, you can put him out there, and
it was like super tow right, the old I'm gonna
slam him on the head as hard as I can.
(06:09):
The ball's gonna play fly through now, not tonight, And
like that, thirty six yard is gonna be debated for
quite a while too, right, because that changes the complexion
of those final minutes of how it has to play out,
you know.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
And because there's more at stake than just who moves
on right now, Alabama's moving on for Indiana on New
Year's Day, which is gonna be a hell of a
game to watch. Right. This is just like the NCAA
tournament in college basketball. Yeah, you get early round games that, yeah,
you're watching just because you normally always watch them. But
we don't have great matchups.
Speaker 5 (06:41):
Right.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
We got James Madison in Oregon tomorrow. We got too
late in Old Miss. But you get out of these
games all of a sudden. Hey, the quarterfinals, the seventh finals,
you get great matchups, just like the NCAA tournament. Right,
It just does like the tournament, but there's more at
stake because you look at the plays of the quarterbacks, right,
and John Mattier and Ty Simpson at different times this
year or viewed as potential franchise quarterbacks in the NFL. Right,
(07:03):
Simpson had a great start and then Alabama's offense disappeared.
Mattier started out well, then he got hurt and he
hasn't really made it back off the injury. So to
have that the year he's having here, you know, both
these guys have fallen off. NFL evaluators are looking at
to say who's going to rise to the top of
(07:25):
the NFL draft this year, because even though it's not
a great year for quarterbacks, somebody's gonna rise up. Someone's
gonna say I'm the number one pick in the draft?
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Now?
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Is it Forrandom Mendoza? He's in pole position right now
with Indiana undefeated Heisman Trophy. But I you know, I'm
not that sold. I think Mendoza is a guy that
we've sort of, you know, kept him at the top
just because there hasn't been anybody else, right, But he's
been great this year in college. But does he really
project to be a to be a next great star
quarterback in the NFL? I don't know, And I guarantee
(07:54):
you NFL evaluators don't know. They're looking at this playoff
and they're saying, who was gonna distance themselves by having
an incredible playoff and rising from Hey, they're one of
the guys we're talking about too. He's the guy coming
off the board as the first quarterback, or he's someone
that's trading with the Giants at number one to go
get that pick. And you saw tonight you watch John Mattier,
(08:17):
who was pretty good the first quarter and a half
and then all of a sudden looked like he was
running around panicked. Right like I'm seeing a lot of
a lot of evaluators talk about the footwork of both
quarterbacks and how that was really bad tonight and Simpson,
you know the same way. Right started out poorly but
then played better as the game went on. Still wasn't
as great, wasn't as decisive, made some bad throws. So
(08:41):
you know, neither of these guys has has differentiated themselves.
Now you have a couple more games in theory for
for for for Simpson to move on, maybe it's one
more game, but Mendoza would have two more games. But
I got to tell you the guy that I'm looking
to say, he's going to differentiate himself and he's going
to rise at the top of all these guys. Were
going to see him play tomorrow and again you'll see
(09:02):
him if you watch the game, because I don't know
why you would watch Oregon and James Madison, but Dante
Moore is gonna be that guy when the season started,
and More and Mendoza and nuss Meyer and these are
the guys that we're all sort of mentioned in the
beginning of the season. More is someone who when you
look at the skills and the toolbox that you want
a quarterback to have a modern day quarterback in the NFL.
(09:24):
He's got it all, right, He's absolutely got it all.
But you know, loses the big showdown game against Indiana.
Still has a really good year. But I think Oregon
overall has kind of been unappreciated, like they might be
the second best team in the country, you know, I mean,
really their only loss is that is to Indiana, and
you know, I don't I don't know if you play
that game again how that game would go. But More
(09:47):
certainly has all of the of the skills you need.
And now he's got the storyline to get there. Because
Oregon should easily have a rematch at least with Indiana
in the semis. It should be a big game for
him tomorrow against James Madison should be a big game
in the quarterfinal. And More's the guy that I see
at the end of this playoff when you see all
(10:07):
kinds of stuff and read online about who helped himself
the most. Dante Moore, who went from hey, this guy's
you know, a high first round pick. Two. This is
the guy the teams are now gonna want that's gonna
come off the board as the first guy. He just
has all. He just has a skill set, and he's
got the narrative and the storyline and the games to
be able to show everybody when you're looking for stuff
like footwork and execution, that I can get that done
(10:30):
over the next three games. You're gonna have three games
to be able to prove how good he is three
games at least. So, yeah, when you say who's that quarterback,
Who's who's at the stakes the highest four here, it's
the quarterbacks playing in the college football playoff, and More's
the guy that's gonna wind up being the big winner.
Speaker 4 (10:45):
Yeah, those are the two guys that stand out most.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
More and Simpson has been a guy folks have been
waiting on to get his turn there at Alabama for
a while. Only thirteen what this was his fourteenth start,
So you know those where we start talking about the
metrics of how many starts do you need before you
feel convinced that you got the guy right? And that's
where Dante More is to a degree as well as
(11:09):
time at UCLA sat behind Dylan Gabriel last year and
now you have this run up here and look every evaluation,
maybe a little bit of work on his footwork, Okay, fine,
everything else is there, right, checks the box and being
able to put the ball Downfield checks the box with
his decision making, just you know, just keep going down
the line. So all the mocks that I've seen, those
(11:32):
are the three guys that show up in the first round,
and Simpsons usually towards the back end of it as
the project guy. Right that maybe we re enter the
phase of NFL Worlds, especially for those teams that are
doing well right now, where you just say, okay, we
can bring him in and he doesn't have to play
right away now with Dante More it's the other end
(11:53):
of it where all the projections have him in that
top five, if not supplanting Mendoza altogether. Assuming that the
playoff run goes for Oregon as you expect, and yeah,
you're right, they've been able to operate in relative anonymity,
just go and win.
Speaker 4 (12:10):
You had the game.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
Against Indiana that got a little bit of run in
its moment, but over the course of an NCAA season
gets lost to the annals of history, right, although it
seems like years ago the way these seasons play out,
But for more big test you know is not tomorrow.
Speaker 4 (12:31):
Yeah, you take care of business, check the box, run
the ball, go home.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
But in the future rounds, whether it's a rematch or
anything that flows through that, all eyes are on him
to try to ascend to that spot. So great upside
here and certainly millions and millions of dollars. A lot
of questions of whether he would go back to school
for another year if it didn't show properly. But as
(12:56):
we talked about a little bit earlier and we revisit here,
it's like, if the money's there as a first round pick,
yeah you go. I mean nil deals are all fine
and good. Maybe you just love the college lifestyle Smith,
maybe you just want to stick around for that extra
year because I'm the king of this campus. Would allegedly
(13:17):
make at Michigan, what what was the eleven million for
eleven for him? Arch Manning says he's going to take less,
says he goes back to Texas so they can put a.
Speaker 4 (13:26):
Winner out there. Either way.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
He's probably in that you know, double digit million campaign
as well, and we know the money that flows at Oregon.
But for Dante Moore, the opportunity to go as a
top five pick, whether it's the Jets or Vegas, et cetera. Yeah,
you go and take your money and move on to
the next challenge.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
Yeah. I mean, look, the doors open for everybody, right
like that, Like the NFL is not saying we want
this guy to show us it's open. It's open for More,
it's open for Mendoza. I mean it's open for everyone, right,
I mean, this is every quarterback and that's in the
playoff can say, yeah, this is why you take me
this high.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
Well, but Mendoza's the one guy, Jason that I think
everybody just agrees. He comes out, he's going top. Everybody
else still got something to prove.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
Yeah, I means right now, by default, he's he's going
at the top. And I think that's why he's is
that if More comes out and he and he shows you, hey, wait,
I can make all these throws, and you're seeing everything
I can do, and you can do it a little
bit better than Mendoza, well then all of a sudden
you jump ahead of him. I mean, right now, Mendoza
is in pole position, easy, and the first quarterback off
(14:32):
the board, it's going to be him, either to the
Raiders or to the Jets or somebody who's picking in
the top five. Someone will trade up in the top
five to get a quarterback because he looked you got
to take somebody. And if he's the guy, even if
he's the guy by default, well you know, life is
miserable without of the quarterback, so you get one. So
the door is open for all of them. But you know,
the other part of it. You made an interesting point
(14:53):
there is that in other years we might not even
be talking about Mendoza or Dante More at the top
of the first right, these guys, like if this is
twenty twenty seven, maybe Mendoza and more guys later in
the first round or into the first round. Because twenty
twenty seven next year, which is likely going to be
headlined by arch Manning, it's it's in theory supposed to
(15:14):
be a better year for the quarterback draft. So if
you're Dante More and you're thinking, I can stay, I
can go to school, I go back to school, you
have a big playoff and you getting evaluated as a
top five pick, like you gotta go man be cause
you don't know what's gonna happen in the next year.
You might not be the shiny new toy. Other guys
may play really well and they may see, well, you
had a good year last year, he had a good
year this year. All right, Well, yeah, we like Dante more,
(15:36):
but you know, last week we liked him as the
number four overall pick or litreber two overall pick. Now
we like him as maybe in the twenties. Now maybe
go somewhere, and he sits for a year, Like, you
don't want to throw all that out to chance. When
the NFL calls for you go, Like I've always been
a big subscriber to that philosophy in the NFL says
we want you. That's when you go, because if you
don't go, then you could wind up screwing yourself. So
(15:58):
as long as he gets that evaluate, he's gotta go.
He's gotta be that guy today. Even if I'm the
second quarterback off the board, I'm coming off the board
at number three. Right, it's been Doze of the Raiders
and me to the Jets, or vice versa. Whatever it's
gonna be. You kind of have no choice. You have
to go at that point.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
Well, and it goes back to the general philosophy of
even if the guy doesn't grade out as the prototypicals
compared to past years. Right, top quarterbacks. Everybody needs one
and we're watching it right now. What are we into
the mid fifties of starting quarterbacks based on injury and effectiveness, incompetence,
(16:35):
bad coaching, bad offensive line play.
Speaker 4 (16:38):
Slice up that pie. However you want.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
You need multiple quarterbacks that you're at the ready, I mean,
otherwise you're going and finding the next Philip Rivers.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
Yeah, I got Philip in exit out by the Fresca
exit swelling dumb. Jason Smith Mike Harmon live from the
Fox Sports or Radio studios coming up next. We finished
this out with an absolute flourish. We preview the five
biggest games in the NFL this weekend. Keep it right here,
Jason to Mike, Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern seven
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 5 (17:19):
Hey is Covino and Rich from Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 6 (17:22):
Now, in addition to hearing us live weekdays from five
to seven pm Eastern two to four Pacific on Fox
Sports Radio, We're excited to announce a brand new YouTube
channel for the show yup.
Speaker 4 (17:32):
That's right.
Speaker 5 (17:33):
You can now watch Covino and Rich live on YouTube
every day. All you gotta do search Covino and Rich
FSR on YouTube again, go to YouTube search Covino and
Rich FSR. Check us out on YouTube, subscribe, hit that
thumbs up icon.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
Coming away Fox Sports Radio The Jason Smith Show with
my best friend Mike Harmon. Congrats to Alabama, got a
big slay to college football tomorrow. One playoff game you'll
probably watch, and that's Miami in Texas, A and m
and a couple more you'll just you know, check in
on the score on. But big slay of games in
(18:10):
the NFL this weekend. We're gonna preview five of the
biggest ones over the next few minutes here on the show.
And let's kick things off with a game where the
good times for this team are going to hit a
speed bump. The more desperate team, even though they might
not make the playoffs, kind of like run around with
the checking with their head cut off, like they don't
(18:31):
know that maybe they might be dead. Give me the
Lions to take out their frustrations for the past few
weeks against the Steelers. Look, Aaron Rodgers had a couple
of nice games in the last three weeks, but Detroit
is desperate. They are at home. They will play like
it on offense. They should win this game by twenty
(18:52):
Pittsburgh shouldn't even be in this game at halftime. It
should be somebody else, a quarterback in the second half.
Detroit's not gonna have any trouble scoring this game. They're frustrated,
they're pissed after that loss to the Rams, and even
though their window may be closed, and that's the big
thing is that even if Detroit wins this game, making
the playoffs, just making the playoffs is gonna be tough
(19:13):
because they're gonna be down no matter what happens this week.
They'ren't have to need help the last few weeks. This
is a Lions team that's on like a two and
a half year decline, you know, from where they were
when they burst on the scene and were you know,
thirty minutes from the Super Bowl, and then last year
they looked like they were even better and they couldn't
beat the Commanders at home, and now this year they're
struggling to get in the window for the Lions that
(19:36):
we thought is gonna be open for a long time
young team. They got a lot of guys, a lot
of young players. They're paying well, they're paying a lot
of young players, and the team doesn't look like it's
good enough. So as much as I'm in on them
for tomorrow, and I'm gonna have to answer all this
on my family text as well, why did you say
that about our team? I'm up on the on the
Lions for this weekend and especially Pittsburgh's. Look, I'm never
(19:58):
gonna believe in Pittsburgh up on the lines this weekend.
But overall, I wonder if the window for this team
here isn't closed, and it's gonna have to be a
different mix of other things next year, whether it's hey,
maybe they do miss Aaron Glenn. Maybe it's something more
defensively they need. Maybe it's a little bit more something.
(20:18):
I mean, it's a mystery right now because they shouldn't
be struggling this much, but they are so short term. Yes,
I'm in on them to blow the doors off of
the Steelers, but man, their super Bowl window might be closed.
Speaker 3 (20:30):
Yeah, I mean, we look at roster construction obviously, attrition. Defensively,
the back seven's been banged up all year long, you know,
you get Hutchinson back, but you can't maximize him because
even if he's terrorizing the quarterback, they're not making the
plays on the back end, giving up chunky yardage in
big plays left and right. So that's that's certainly something
that needs to be addressed offensively. We've watched the Jamiir
(20:54):
Gibbs game. We talked about it for fantasy purposes. Certainly
we did on the Iwacha Flex Buyer Roddy and I Dan,
and you know I laid this out Jason. For the guys,
it's been the roller coaster ride. Three touchdowns zero, three
touchdowns zero. So Jamiir Gibbs, trying to have a little
(21:14):
more consistency from him as a runner has been difficult.
And so when we look at it, you know, for
the Lions, youared Goff becomes the face of it all.
But we've watched them get desperate at times and the
fourth down magic hasn't been there. Maybe that's run its
course and Dan Campbell needs to take a long walk
(21:36):
on the beach to reevaluate that.
Speaker 4 (21:38):
Yeah, I think they get the win here against Pittsburgh.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
Wouldn't be surprised to see Rogers and Company put up
some numbers, but you know, overall, it's certainly levels of
concern in terms of the continuity and consistency that just
isn't there, and losing coordinators will do that for you. Right,
It's not always going to be the same messaging. It's
not always going to be this. Even if a lot
(22:00):
of the principles are there, something's been lost.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
And now making things interesting because you know, we want it.
And it's only destiny for the AFC North to come
down to the final week of the season and the
Steelers and the Ravens when both teams are five hundred.
Give me the Ravens over the Patriots this weekend. Baltimore
is at home, They're in primetime, and Lamar Jackson looks
(22:24):
the closest he's been to being back in quite a
while right now, not like Baltimore's all of a sudden
suddenly solved all their problems. But this is one hundred
percent a Lamar game, right, This is a Lamar Jackson game.
And I'm going to take the downward slope for the
Patriots to continue a little bit because they got exposed
(22:45):
as bad front runners against Buffalo like that. That's the
thing about New England this year, it's every game is
the same. Look, this is the mark of a great team.
You get out to you know, you game plan what
you want and the game goes according to script. And
guess what, hey, it's easy. Rights. Every game is the same.
They get out to a lead, they hold on to it,
maybe it gets close, but they find a way to
(23:05):
make a player two. They don't really have to play
from behind, they don't really have to play like they're
in trouble at any point. And this past week it
was a perfect Patriots start. Right they were out and
I said to myself, man, the Bills are gonna get
waxed by the Patriots again. Except what happened a game
the Patriots had the front running, they were golden. They
(23:27):
were front of this game by almost three touchdowns, and
still the Bills were able to come back and win
this game. And the big thing for me with New
England is not suddenly they're bad or not, but being
exposed as a great front running team. Now you can see, hey,
we can come back against them. I don't know that
(23:48):
New England when it comes down to it, when they
play the best teams across the NFL, I don't know,
if they can score as big as they need to
with the heavyweights, not like they're not that they have
to win a shootout all the time. Like you can't
win a thirty eight thirty five game. Okay, there's lots
of teams they can't win a thirty eight thirty five games.
But when points start getting put up and you have
to match along the way and keep up with the
(24:10):
other team, like, that's the thing that strikes me about
in New England? Can they do that? Nat? I don't know,
because that last week was a disaster. Like if they
if they went out last week and they just lost
to the Bills, you'd say, Okay, hey, the Bills are
really good. We've had a great run. We'd won a
bunch of games in a row. What are we gonna do, right, Yeah,
we're at home, but the Bills are good. We won
twelve games row. Whatever it was, we hadn't lost. We
(24:31):
lost of the Steelers, which I mean, come on, man,
you lost of the Steelers and the Raiders.
Speaker 4 (24:35):
But Steelers are a five hundred team.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
But the way, but the way they lost that game
was really concerning to me. And it's it's not that
it's an end of the season swoon. But it's a
window into Hey, maybe this is how the Patriots, this
is their kryptonite, This is how you attack them. And
obviously you want to stop them from dictating play early on.
You want you want to stop them from being able
(24:58):
to front run. But now, hey, if we start scoring points,
they might not be able to keep all of a
sudden suddenly keep up with us in the game. And
that's what's gonna get them again, because you're gonna be
playing the best teams in the league. Now you know
when you get to the end of the season, in
the playoffs, and the bottom of that drawer is gonna
come up empty at some point.
Speaker 3 (25:14):
Yeah, big spot for Baltimore as well. Three point favorites
forty eight and a half is your total. We keep
an eye on the weather as we get closer to
the game time and see how that's affecting things. But
Lamar is clearly not right in gutting it out as
best he can. The run game hasn't been explosive. Passing
game still waiting for a breakthrough right for some of
(25:38):
these players. Day Flowers is about as consistent as you've seen. Conversely,
you look at New England. They've been living and dying
by the big play, right, certainly the explosive runs for Henderson.
We've talked and made a lot of it all throughout
the year about their strength of schedule. There's no strength
(25:58):
to it. So when you actually do get tested in
a big spot where all of a sudden you got
the elbows flying, and you watch Josh Allen just say
all right, I'll put on my cape and let's go.
Speaker 4 (26:11):
And James Cook with.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
The explosive plays that he had that you're finding it
tough to match up because the passing game, to your
point about front running, I think is really where it
comes down to. And I take nothing away Drake may
has made great strides and Varibel's done a hell of
a job, but this is a step up in class
this week from what you've been seeing. Right, And the
(26:34):
last time we watched against the Bills, Okay, they got
punched and then they continue. It's kind of like watching
this Alabama Oklahoma game. All right, Oklahoma was great, and
then as soon as it neutralized and evened out, they
just got punched and bludgeoned for the rest of the bout.
I think Baltimore in a big spot at home do
(26:55):
the same.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
Yeah, I mean, look, they're more desperate, clearly, even though
the Patriots can now see the Bills in the rear
view mirror, you know, after the win last week. But
I mean you would think they would have been able
to throw the hammer down last week. They're playing home,
right like you're a big at home, like news, that's
a game you win ten out of ten times. If
you're that good, you don't blow that game coming back.
And it's not like you watch Josh Allen suddenly go,
(27:17):
oh my god, Josh Allen, Josh Allen hey through three touchdowns,
but you know he only threw for one hundred and
ninety yards, not like he went for three point fifteen
and he ran for one hundred and twenty. Right, Like,
this was just a methodical comeback and a losing of
the lead in Buffalo in the second half, just flipping
a switch. And that's really concerning for the Patriots to me,
that they that this is a kind of game they
(27:38):
let slip when everything is on the table to winning
the AFC East, being in the in control for the
for the number one seed all the way through, and
to lose that way, not all watses are created equal
and that was that was an absolute stunner for me
last week, you know when they lost to the Bills, that.
Speaker 3 (27:54):
I sure remember objects in rear view mirror or closer
than they appear. And when you've got Josh Allen, did
he need to be overall ridiculous number game like Matthew
Stafford put up yesterday. No, he didn't. You just need
to play situational football, take advantage of what was given
to you. Uh, and your defense actually showed up when
(28:17):
it mattered. So uh, they take the the w they're
ten and four, I mean they're they're right behind and stalking.
So opportunity for Josh Allen in these final couple of
weeks to go win himself the MVP award, you know,
especially after you know the Rams lost yesterday. But for
Lamar Jackson and company, you know they're still playing for
(28:38):
great shakes. Otherwise they from if our eyes are to
be believed, he's a guy that should have been in
that are we shutting him down?
Speaker 4 (28:46):
What are we doing?
Speaker 3 (28:47):
We're contending, but we're not contending. No, he's still battling
ohs and the defense has played a little bit better.
Speaker 4 (28:53):
So big spot for them this week.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
Time now to find out what's trending in the wide
world of sports, from special to livery Steve Desager, He's
got everything that's trending right now, Steve o Hey.
Speaker 7 (29:05):
We'll start with the opener of the college football playoff.
It was nine seed Alabama winning at eight seed Oklahoma
thirty four twenty four, even though the Sooners led seventeen
to nothing early in the second quarter at the time,
Bama had no first downs. They had three straight three
and outs to open the game, and yet tied it
by halftime, took a ten point lead in the third,
wound up winning by ten. Alabama goes to the Rose
(29:28):
Bowl quarterfinal against number one Indiana. Oklahoma had won at
Alabama about a month ago in a close game, including
an eighty seven yard pick six. Bama had a touchdown
on a pick six tonight late in the first half.
The offense for the Tide twelve drives, twelve first downs,
but two TV passes for Ty Simpson.
Speaker 4 (29:46):
And they advanced.
Speaker 7 (29:47):
There were combined nine sacks in this game, so the
two teams combined had eighty three yards rushing on fifty
eight carries. Oklahoma is now zero to five all time
in playoff games. The three other first round games are
on Saturday, including ten seed Miami at Texas A and
m Duke quarterback Darien Mensa will return next season. He
had transferred there from Tulane this past offseason. Arizona State
(30:10):
wide receiver Jordan Tyson declared for the NFL Draft, so
he's expected to miss the Sun Bowl against Duke. Purdue
re hired defensive coordinator Kevin Kane, who coached at Minnesota
this past season in Tampa. Today, NC State won a
bowl game against Memphis thirty one to seven. Western Michigan
defeated Kennesaw State forty one to six. Arizona Cardinals wide
receiver Marvin Harrison Junior says he'll return to play Sunday
(30:33):
after a heel injury. Wide receiver Drake London of the
Falcons is due back on Sunday at Arizona after missing
four games with a knee injury. Wide receiver of the
Bengals T Higgins returned to full practice today after a concussion.
Raiders quarterback Gino Smith will start Sunday after shoulder and
back injuries. New Orleans running back Alvin Kamara is still
out this weekend with a sprained mcl. Texan's running back
(30:55):
Woody Marks returned to limited practice after his ankle injury.
Wide receiver where Rashid Rice of the Chiefs is out
this weekend with a concussion, and so is Kansas City's
Taekwon Thornton. Pittsburgh linebacker TJ. Watt is out with the
lung injury. Wide receiver Garrett Wilson of the Jets will
remain on IR so he's out for the season. Rams
wide receiver DeVante Adams is likely out next week as
(31:18):
well with his bad hamstring. Seattle linebacker Derek Hall was
suspended one game for on sportsmanlike conduct.
Speaker 4 (31:24):
He will appeal.
Speaker 7 (31:25):
Rams wide receiver Pukinakua was fined twenty five thousand dollars
for criticizing the refs. There are two NFL games on
Saturday on Fox TV, Philadelphia at Washington, then Green Bay
at Chicago. In the NBA's late game, Oklahoma City, which
was twenty five and two, lost giving up a late
eight ozhero run at Minnesota, Timberwolves take at one twelve
(31:46):
one oh seven despite thirty five points from Shay Gilgess.
Alexander San Antonio won its fifth straight game. They're up
to twenty and seven this year. Spurs wan at Atlanta one,
twenty six to ninety eight.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
Victor Rossis Steve, that is incorrect because I watched the
Spurs lose on Tuesday night in a very big game
where they most definitively were the losers.
Speaker 7 (32:06):
No, absolutely did not count.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
Well. I watched it, though I watched it, and there
was a trophy. I think it counted.
Speaker 4 (32:15):
And a banner was there a banner ben a Dignita College.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
There was a banner. It's just in storage permanently.
Speaker 7 (32:22):
New York had a quote six game winning streak going
into tonight's home game and lost at home against Philadelphia.
Either way, the streak is over one sixteen, one oh seven.
Philly got thirty points from Tyrese Maxi. I was gonna
mention with the Spurs off the bench these days. Victor
wembin Yaba twenty one minutes, twenty six points. Guard Trey
Young of the Hawks out for rest. He just returned
(32:43):
from injury.
Speaker 4 (32:44):
Last night.
Speaker 7 (32:44):
Chicago won at Cleveland despite thirty five from Darius Garland.
Boston beat Miami thirty three for Derek White and thirty
points for the Celtics, Jalen Brown. College basketball wins for
BYU and for Villanova in overtime, NHL wins for Colorado,
for Dallas, which won eight three at Anaheim, and Florida
in a shootout edge Carolina four to three. The Angels
(33:05):
agreed to a settlement with the family of their late pitcher,
Tyler Skaggs. After thirty one days in court and in boxing.
Tonight a heavyweight fight in Miami, Anthony Joshua doct out
Jake Paul in the sixth round.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
Back to You, Thank you, Steve O. The Jason Smith
Show with my best friend Mike Carmon coming up next,
we finish with a flourish. We preview the three other
biggest games in the NFL, including the Big showdown tomorrow.
Is Mike Harmon walking away from the Bears Packers happy
and running naked along Miracle Mile?
Speaker 7 (33:37):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (33:37):
Is he really pissed pulling his hair out? We'll tell
you next. Jason and Mike Fox Sports Radio, Fox Sports
Radio Jason Smith and Mike Carman. Final shot of the
year for Mike and I. Mike's got a couple of
days next week. Yeah, gonna finish with a flourish here
on a positivity Friday, take a look at three of
(34:00):
the biggest games this weekend and the National Football League
and first off by this time tomorrow, Mike Harmon is
a very happy man. I've been your Chicago Bear whisperer
all year long. I've told you everything was gonna be fine.
They'll win tomorrow against the Packers. They're gonna win the
(34:21):
NFC North, They're gonna be the number two overall seed
in the playoffs. This is how it's gonna end for
the Chicago Bears. It's all lining up right. Last week,
big win over Cleveland's defense. The offense not so much,
but big win over the defense. And clearly you have
seen now and there's been a lot of evidence the
last couple of years that the guy that makes the
(34:43):
offense go that you have to get the football too.
It's not really about Caleb Williams or the running game.
The guy that makes this offense go is DJ Moore.
When he gets the ball, the offense revs it up.
It's that simple. You go two weeks ago, one catch
minus four yards. You knew that wasn't gonna be the case.
Last week a huge week. Last week, they look great offensively,
(35:03):
He's still one of the best receivers in the NFL,
and they will have to get on the ball tomorrow
because you know, Romadoonday is out, and Luther Burden is out,
and Brian Bashnagel is out, Ken Marjoram is out. It's
gonna be the DJ Moore and Colson Lovelin show tomorrow.
But it doesn't matter. Chicago's better than Green Bay. They
should have won two weeks ago. The Packers are still
(35:26):
somewhat reeling over the loss of Micah Parsons, and just
like Bo Callahan didn't have to worry about Vonte Mack
when he was off the field, and draft day a
little less to worry about with though Micah Parsons, I'm
still bullish on the Packers overall because you can replace
a defensive player and still have a really good year
and still be really, really good. It's as much as
you want to say he's the quarterback of the defense,
(35:47):
he's not the quarterback. But tomorrow the Bears are too much.
They're the better team. The Bears win and Mike Harmon
is running naked along Miracle Mile. You got to listen
to the whole show tomorrow night to celebrate the.
Speaker 3 (35:57):
Bears win, trying to impress some girls in the stands.
Can't shoot that. What Dj Moore is interesting is, if
I'm not mistaken, this is the first year that'll end
with a winning record since high school.
Speaker 1 (36:12):
Yeah, you can't just say all he does is win,
That's not what He's not one of those guys.
Speaker 4 (36:16):
Yeah, So here we go.
Speaker 3 (36:17):
Go all the way back through Maryland three and nine,
six and seven, four and eight Panthers, seven and nine,
five and eleven, five and eleven, five and twelve, seven
and ten Bears, seven and ten, five and twelve, now
ten and four Bears. Yeah, he's got to be huge tomorrow.
And obviously Manungui and swift on the ground with no
run stuff for and no Michael Parsons to disrupt things.
(36:37):
So with everybody listed as an injury combatant for the Packers,
not sure that you get Watson and or Jacob's going
that the Bears should be able to hold serve.
Speaker 4 (36:49):
In front of the raucous home crowd.
Speaker 1 (36:53):
All the Chargers do is end seasons. They ended the
season last week of the Kansity Chiefs. They will end
Dallas said, well, Dallas season could end if the Eagles
win tomorrow. But you get my point. The Chargers have
shown this year, despite the injuries, they can win throwing
around or they can win tight physical mail biers. They've
done it too many times now to say, well, they
(37:14):
can't win like that all the time. No, I think
they're showing you the toughness and the grit they can
win that way. But against Dallas it's gonna be more
old school Chargers with big scores. Lad McConkie will be
back to having a big day. Look, the Cowboys defense
is back to where it was early in the season,
but that I mean they're not stopping anybody. You know,
They're allowing tons of points every week. Again, look, we've
(37:35):
told you who the Cowboys have been all along this season,
right like we've been your Cowboys whisperers. We told the
beginning you don't want to get in a shootout with
them because their offense is really good. Even Eye underestimated
how good the offense was, but boy, it was really good.
But right when they got to the point where they
were tantalizing us and maybe the NFC East was coming
into focus a little bit, it was possibly out there
(37:56):
for them. They make the big trade at the deadline
for Quinn Williams. No, they showed we're going to cowboy
and now they wind up tantalizing you and failing. And
that's really what the Cowboys have been. That's we told
they be all season long, and that's where they are.
Their offense was terrific. They won a lot of games,
but when it really came time to we showed me
how improved you are win games. Get there, they weren't
(38:18):
able to do it. And you're gonna see the Chargers
and that defense is going to put out a big effort.
I'm a big, big believer that the Chargers defense will
do more ill will to the Cowboys offense than vice versa.
So give me the Chargers to officially end the Dallas
Cowboy again. Cowboys. You could end up the Eagles win,
but you get what I'm saying that this is gonna
be the last week we talked about the Cowboys in
the playoffs, and the Chargers will be at the forefront
(38:40):
of it.
Speaker 3 (38:40):
Two and a half point favorite child the Cowboys at home.
Forty nine and a half year total. What was it?
A an enthusiasm, unknown demand and we're match That's what
you get from the love and love affair that Harbaugh
has with Justin Herbert. This is one where he gets
to put his arm back in full effect. They'll get
the run game going against this Dallas defense, no question
(39:01):
about it. But this is one where you can get
right in Dallas's offense. For all of the plaudits and
the numbers have been big, Ceedee Lamb and George Pickens
can both get got and they get got this week.
Speaker 1 (39:14):
Jacksonville and Denver, I mean, I raise your hand. You
thought this would be the game we're talking about. You know,
that's what a big week with such playoff implication, Yet
here we are slow your role on Jacksonville and Trevor Lawrence, Right,
Trevor Lawrence has been a little bit better the last
few weeks, but you cannot judge ultimate success by a
game against the Jets. Okay, it's the Jets. They're terrible,
(39:35):
and you can point to all the numbers that Trevor
Lawrence put up half of them. The last few weeks
have been from that game where I don't know that
the Jets even practiced because Trevor Lawrence, like, wow, it
hasn't been easy since I was Clemson playing Syracuse. You
know back when I was a freshman in college. So
the reality is here in the form of the Denver defense.
They show up big. I told you last week bon
Nicks would have his game of the year against the Packers.
(39:56):
That's the scariest part of this game because now bo
Nicks is back past being the game manager he's been
and that was a big, big game from last week.
The Broncos keep it going. Not only do they win,
they let at the scoreboard. They win big over the Jaguars.
Speaker 3 (40:09):
Danver three and a half point favorite, forty seven year total.
I'm taking the Jaguars balance and definition. Jacoby Myers, thanks
for showing up. Here's a giant contract. He and Brian
Thomas do some wonderful things with etn out of the
backfield and a little bit of tooting which gets Trevor
Lawrence into the winner circle again.
Speaker 1 (40:29):
You're just saying that because they beat the Jets bad
that don't fall for it, Mike Harmon, don't fall for it.
Speaker 4 (40:34):
That's a They're a stepping stone.
Speaker 1 (40:37):
The Jets are a stepping stone for everybody. And happy
Holiday is my friend for Mike Jason Coming up next
F and A on FSR. This is Fox Sports Radio,
Hosts And Creators
Jason Smith
Mike Harmon
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